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Pirelli Tyre Holding, the tyre-manufacturing subsidiary beset by delays to its plans for an initial public offering, has received approval from stock exchange Borsa Italiana to float in Milan and will set a price range for shares by the end of this week.

Bookbuilding for the deal was expected to start last week, after pre-marketing for the float began three weeks ago.

However, the nine banks working on the deal were forced to extend the pre-marketing period after Italian regulator Consob dragged its feet, which in turn caused a delay at the Italian stock exchange.

Consob’s approval for the listing is expected by Wednesday, a banking source said, and the price range for the deal will be announced the same day or the next.

Pirelli is looking to raise €400m ($503m) from the offer, which could value the subsidiary’s spin-off at about €2.5bn.

Nine banks are working on the flotation, which will see the tyre manufacturing business return to the market after an absence of nine years.

A backlog of work at Consob has caused delays to several Italian flotations, including Italian motor-scooter maker Piaggio and telecoms-switching equipment manufacturer Italtel.

Anonima Petroli Italiana, an oil refining and distribution company also delayed by Consob, was finally able to announce the price range for its flotation last Thursday.

API is set to sell 54 million shares at €5.25 to €7.25 each. The deal, led by Goldman Sachs and Capitalia, will raise up to €392m, of which €207m will be new money. The flotation could value the company at up to €1.2bn.

The oil distributer faces a struggle after shares in the flotation of Saras, another Italian oil refiner plummeted 13% when the company began trading at the end of last month. Shares in Saras were trading 16% below the offer price at €5.03 at 9:55 GMT this morning.